Status Change
by ResidentOfCabin6
Summary: Annabeth arrived at Goode High School about a month ago, and has been going out with Percy Jackson. They are the model couple, something everyone should strive for. Jess, one of the most popular girls in school brews little ...surprise for them and tries to take Percy for herself. Will Percy and Annabeth fight through her evil tricks? Or will the mean girl succeed in her plot?
1. Chapter 1: The Mean Girl

**Hello everyone! This is my first fan fiction! Sorry the summary sucked, but if you read chapters one and two you should be able to decide whether you like the story and want to keep reading. I wrote this because I kept reading Annabeth at Goode stories where there was always some mean girl trying to break up Percabeth, but she never had a chance. In this story, she at least has a chance.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.**

Jessica absolutely hates Annabeth. There's no other way to say it. Annabeth had joined Goode High about a month ago, and immediately started dating Percy. She moved from California and is staying with him. They spend all of their time together, almost never apart. They're the perfect happy couple, something every couple should strive for. That should be me! Jess thinks angrily. She'd known for awhile Percy had a long distance relationship with some Californian girl, but she'd assumed that she could pull him away from her.

Jess has already planned their wedding and everything! She decided that they would have three children, a little girl with her bouncing brown curls and Percy's eyes, a boy with jet black hair and her bubbly blue eyes, and the third could be whatever. Now, her chances at her perfect future were slipping away.

With the girl here, it just got a whole lot harder to break them up. Jess moved from Florida over the summer and knows nothing about Percy's mysterious past, and she knows he has one, because people refuse to talk about it. But to her, he's the perfect guy, with his tall, muscular build, and that raven black hair combined with those deep, sea green eyes. He's extremely loyal, which is both troublesome and endearing, and he's very nice.

All of Jess' classes are with him, the mysterious boy sitting in the back. And besides Annabeth, she's his best friend. She's worked the whole school year, which only started a couple of weeks before Annabeth came, to build a good relationship with him, the boy every girl wants but no one can get. Well, almost no one.

"Uh, earth to Jess! We asked you a question! Any recommendations for where to eat on our date tonight?" Percy asks, waving his hand in her face. Walking through the school halls at the end of the school day thankfully provides an excuse for her not paying attention.

Something about how he always talks in we's and us' now that Annabeth is here, too, really grinds Jess the wrong way. But, she must keep being the nice, pretty, popular girl everyone adores, otherwise she has no chance with Percy, "Uh, there's this really nice Greek place a few streets away."

"Sounds great, thanks!" Annabeth smiles. Her smile is nice, but Jess is sure hers is better. After watching Annabeth and Percy walk together, her head on his shoulder, to Mr. Blowfis' Prius Jess turns and starts looking for Kensy, her older sister, in her convertible.

Jess had waited a month in hopes school pressures would do Percy and Annabeth, or as even some of her other friends have started calling them 'Percabeth', part, but it looks like she'll have to step in, and this date may be her perfect chance.

Soon, a bright red convertible pulls up containing Jess' sister. While Kensy made idle chit chat about her day, Jess looked up helpful information on her phone. She spent the ride to city outskirts browsing through web pages, and hacking past firewalls into normally hidden sites, just as she's done countless times before. By the time she was home, she'd hatched her plan.

**Please leave reviews with your suggestions, questions and comments! I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing! I will try to upload a new chapter every 2-4 days. Also, if you don't like the story, don't read it.**


	2. Chapter 2: Evil at Play

**Alright, I'm happy with the feedback I received for the last chapter, so, thank you guys! I know some of you commented to not make Percy and Annabeth too fluffy, and while I will have some fluff, I'll try not to overdue it. The plot is a work in progress, so if you have any ideas, feel free to tell me! Please enjoy the story!**

**To: allen r; interesting idea, I'll have to think on it**

**Disclaimer, I don't own anything you recognize.**

**Percy Focus**

Percy is so excited for their date that night, even if it was their third one that week. Nothing was better than dating Annabeth. He's Waiting outside their bedroom, and yes, they share, it helps with the nightmares. Annabeth was finishing changing, and Percy could barely stand the wait.

"Alright! I'm ready!" called Annabeth as she stepped out of the room.

Honestly, Percy thought she always looked great, but wow, she'd really dressed up for the night's fancy restaurant. Her blond hair was pulled into a bun with some curls hanging loosely down the back of her neck. Her blue green dressed hung to about her knees. Up top, it hugged her body without restraining movement, which is important for a demigod. Her skirt flared playfully at her waist. She wore no makeup, but she looked stunning anyway. You could just barely see the glint of her knife in her black, knee high boots.

Percy sweeps her up into his arms and spins her around before putting her down again. He waves at his mom and Paul as the couple exits the apartment.

"You ready?" He asks as they leave the apartment. She smiles, and takes off running towards the restaurant, dress and all. Percy chases after her, slowly gaining on her as he weaves through the people on the crowded streets. They arrive at the restaurant together, red-faced and out of breath.

"A table for two, I assume," says the head waitress as she leads them to their seats. Percy and Annabeth nod in return.

**Jess Focus**

Jess is seated on the other side of the room from the inseparable pair. She's eating a salad in a shady corner, dressed in dark colors. She watches with glee as Percy and Annabeth place their orders. The waitress, a friend of hers, pauses on her way out of the kitchen to pour a bit of a clear, flavorless liquid in each drink.

Jess' parents aren't rich, but they do make a lot of money, and she's manipulated them into spending the money they do have on spoiling her. She has everything a teenage girl could want, designer clothes, a car, the latest technology, popularity, good grades. She, in her mind, has everything, except for the problem of the perfect boyfriend. She wants Percy Jackson, and she'll do what it takes to get him, which is where the liquid in the vial comes in.

Jess smiles cruelly at the thought of what the potion does. She hacked it off of Amazon, there's a whole other site underneath it with the coolest stuff. With the one hour delivery, the vial arrived in plenty of time to enact her plan. The potion, though Jess forgot the name, shows itself more each separate time the recipient goes to sleep. That way, the effects can't be seen in time to prevent them. Originally, it was only supposed to go to Annabeth, but she couldn't find a way to make that seem innocent. So, instead, she bought an antidote that she'll give to Percy when he's ready.

When Annabeth is gone. Jess orders her bill and very nearly emits an evil cackle, very much the opposite of her projected personality.

**Annabeth Focus**

For Annabeth, the night has been one of the best date nights with Percy so far, and they've had a lot. The Greek restaurant Jess recommend was amazing, one of the closest she's seen to the real thing. And Percy looked so dashing in his khakis and messily buttoned shirt, it was adorable. Then, they spent about an hour wandering the park. When no one was around, Percy used the fountain to make their own personal water show. Then, they went back to the apartment, and went into their room for some private time, though it consisted mostly of kissing. A lot of it.

Percy's fast asleep now, and Annabeth can hear his little snores as she tries to do the same. She sits and thinks about her day. Something about Jess seems off, but she can't decide what. Soon she drifts off into a restless sleep.

She dreams of Akhlys, when the goddess was crying and telling them to give up in their quest to the doors of death. Except, this time, instead of Percy controlling the poison, it reaches him, and she watches it dissolve him, unable to do anything about it. She begs Akhlys to save him, to call the poison back, but the hag just laughs evilly.

Percy looks at her with pleading eyes, and she stabs him through the chest, unable to watch him suffer. In his final moments, he looks at her with sorrow and thanks, before his sea-green eyes dim to darkness. The misery goddess looks at Annabeth, and tells her once again to give up, this time Annabeth listens, and joins her in her sorrows.

"Percy," she sobs,"Why... Why..."

"Annabeth, Annabeth, you're fine, it was just a nightmare," Percy whispers soothingly,"I'm fine, and you're fine, and we're together."

Annabeth nuzzles against him, crying quietly,"Yo-you w-were dead! Akhlys attacked you with the poison and, and I had to, to, to k-kill you! To help you I h-had t-to k-kill you!" She breaks down further.

"I kept thinking to myself, what if I had been able to come up with a better plan? I could have saved you!" She murmurs when she finally stops crying, her face red and salty from tears.

Percy looks at her seriously,"Annabeth, you are the smartest person I know. Don't you ever let anything make you think otherwise. Promise?"

"Alright Seaweed Brain, I promise, " she pauses a moment,"I love you so much Percy, I don't think I could ever live without you."

"I love you more than you could ever imagine," replies Percy truthfully.

They snuggle together, and, after a brief bout of kissing, fall asleep together. They, though they do dream, aren't prey to memorable nightmares the rest of the night.

They wake up the next morning still wrapped in each other's arms.


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome to the Weekend

**Hello everyone! I'm glad so many of you are liking this story! I'm trying to take suggestions into account, so if you have any ideas, let me know. Hope you like it, I was going to upload tomorrow in case I start to fall behind, but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything recognizable**

**Jess Focus**

The next day in school, a Friday, Jess watches Percy and Annabeth, as much as she can without making it obvious, with a twisted fascination. She notices no apparent changes, and smiles internally. They're still as obsessed with each other as ever. She's gleeful at the thought of what she has in store for them, not that she enjoys their suffering, she just really wants to see how her surprise affects them. She makes no moves towards corrupting the couple, only watches, continuing to be their friend.

**Percy Focus**

Percy is content just to spend the day with Annabeth. School work always stresses him out so much, and the weekends just let him relax and unwind. No bullies, players and idiots to ruin his day.

"So, no school. What do you want to do?" Queries Annabeth over a breakfast of blue pancakes, although she finished hers long ago.

Annabeth watches, amused, as Percy has to finish chewing a humongous mouthful of blue pancakes before responding,"Uh, whatever you want to do, Wise Girl."

Annabeth smiles happily, "Alright Seaweed Brain, let's go, I've got something planned."

"Aw, caw c ahay er?" Percy asks through his pancakes. After a weird look from Annabeth, he swallows and tries again,"Aw, come on. Can I at least eat my pancakes first?"

She shakes her head at him,"Of course, Seaweed Brain. Next time, swallow first. Also, you didn't think I'd make you give up your pancakes, did you? "

He smiles sheepishly at her.

"Oh, you totally did!" Annabeth smirks,"And just for that you have to wait until we get there before you can kiss me!"

"Hey, no fair Wise Girl," Percy complains as he polishes off the eighth and final pancake, because sadly for him, his mom only made ten. He pulls her over for a kiss but she pushes him away and takes off towards the door.

"Percy! You have to catch me! Otherwise I'll extend your sentence," Annabeth calls without looking back.

As Percy runs out the door he yells to his mother, who just smiles and shakes her head,"Bye Mom, got to catch Annabeth!"

He nearly collides with Paul, who was just getting back from a morning Starbucks run. He gets into the hallway just in time to see Annabeth waving and sticking her tongue out at him as the elevator doors close. Percy starts running down the stairs, and by the time he reaches the lobby, Annabeth is already in his car. It's the Prius that Blackjack got hoof prints on. Paul couldn't figure out how to explain that to his associates, so he gave it to Percy and got a new one.

Percy tries to climb into the passenger seat, but Annabeth has locked the door. Instead, he climbs, pouting, into the back seat.

"What was that for?" He asks.

"Thats so you won't try to kiss me while I drive." Annabeth replies simply.

"Aww, but Annabeth…" Percy makes his baby seal face.

"You know I can't see whatever it is you're doing, right?" Annabeth comments into the silence, holding back a laugh at his silly antics.

Percy immediately stops as a red flush spreads across his face,"Oh."

Annabeth laughs. Percy loves how whenever she laughs, everything in the world feel right, as if nothing bad has ever happened. For a few brief seconds at a time, Percy forgets his worries. It's like for once he's normal.

******************************(Time Skip)*********************************

"Seaweed Brain, we're here," Annabeth turns around and smiles at him after a little while.

Percy looks out the window and notices for the first time where they are,"Hey, we're at the beach!"

"Not just any beach," replies Annabeth, opening Percy's door. She grabs his hand and yanks him out of the car, closing his door behind him. She leans in and kisses him.

"Hey, I thought I was supposed to do that!" Percy murmurs through the kiss.

Annabeth pulls away,"Well, I've been suffering withdrawal just as long. Now come on!"

She turns and runs down the beach. She hears Percy running behind her and smiles to herself, imagining turning and watching him in his gray t-shirt and jeans. She arrives at an old cabin that she's rented for the weekend and turns to watch Percy's reaction. He slows to a jog as he examines the building.

"This is the old cabin my mom and I used to rent!" He tells Annabeth excitedly.

"Yeah, your mom told me. So, I thought it would be a nice surprise and rented it for the weekend. We're staying here together, just us," Annabeth replies calmly.

Percy runs at her and tries to tackle her to the ground, but ends up being judo flipped instead. Annabeth smiles at him, and he pulls her down on top of him. He wraps his arms around her and starts kissing her, before stopping to query,"Hey Annabeth, how are you so awesome?"

She smiles at him,"I don't know, but do you want to see the inside of the cabin?"

**Hope you guys, and fellow girls, liked it! Also, if you have any one shots, or maybe even stories, you want me to write, tell me. I'm always looking for a new topic! :)**


	4. Chapter 4: The Strange Boy

**Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Send in suggestions and questions, and I will gladly wait for your reviews.**

**To: ILuvBooks, you will find your answer in a few chapters. I hope the wait isn't too painful.**

**To: Guest, I will try to use your suggestions, and I will definately tone down Jess' diva next time she narrates, it does seem a little overdone.**

**To: Someone, I will try not to be overly fluffy, I prefer them that way, too**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, and if I forget to put this disclaimer in some of my chapters, I still don't own anything recognizable.**

Percy was impressed by how much preparing Annabeth had done for the cabin. The cabin itself is relatively the same, with just one, drafty, room, but it feels so much cozier with all of the blankets Annabeth had stored in in the car. The cupboards have some cereal, blue cookies, and spaghetti. The room has two twin beds, but we pushed them together.

"Alright Seaweed Brain, you ready?" Annabeth calls as he plops onto one of the chairs. It's been a few hours since they arrived, so he was getting ready for a nice night of relaxing with Annabeth, having spent the entire afternoon hanging on the beach together.

"Oh, okay. Where are we goin' Wise Girl?"

"Just come with me, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth grabs a basket off the room's small kitchen table, then walks out the door.

Percy follows curiously, wondering what else Annabeth could possibly have planned to top it off. She already has done all the that's needed to make this an awesome weekend.

As he walks out, he sees Annabeth is a few yards away, right by the surf. She's pulling a blanket out of the basket and is spreading it on the sand. She waves at Percy and gestures for him to come over.

"Percy, you took way too long to get here," Annabeth mock scolds. Percy makes a face at her. She smiles at him, letting the fake sternness fade from her face,"Now, are you hungry yet? Or did you eat too many pancakes this morning?"

"What is all this?" Percy asks as Annabeth starts to rummage through the basket for something.

"It's a picnic, Seaweed Brain! Did you really think I'd come without a plan, did you?"

"No, but I'd thought we'd already finished it and were winging the rest," Percy responds as he sits on the blanket. Annabeth takes the time to stop looking in the basket and raise an eyebrow at him before shaking her head and resuming her search. A few seconds later she pulls out a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, the kind in the blue bag. It's one of the few things Percy loves to eat that he hasn't been able to turn blue.

Annabeth settles on the blanket next to him, leaning against him. She opens the bag of chips with a loud popping noise and proceeds to munch on them with Percy. While the cool surf has been rough today, Percy notices, it's been staying calm around them. He silently prays a thank you to his father, Poseidon. He and Annabeth finish the bag of chips, and she pulls out some ham and cheese sandwiches on blue bread. They eat them together, just enjoying eachothers company.

Percy looks over at Annabeth, soaking in her beauty. She is only wearing a messy ponytail, jeans, and a blue t-shirt, but she looks even more stunning than when she dressed up for their most recent date. She looks so gorgeous without even trying, Percy feels as if, even if he lived a thousand lives he could never deserve a girl like her. He musters up the courage, and yes, he fearlessly kills monsters, but hesitates in talking seriously with his girlfriend, to converse with Annabeth about something he's been thinking about for awhile.

"Hey Annabeth?" He asks timidly.

"Yeah Percy?" She responds casually.

"Well, I've been thinking-" Percy starts before she interrupts him.

"Well that's always dangerous," Annabeth comments as she turns to look at him, ignoring the romantic sunset they'd been watching.

"Annabeth, we're seniors in high school," Percy begins,"and we haven't really thought about our future. And, I was wondering, because you never got back to me, do you want to go to college? In New Rome? We can be together, and safe. No monsters trying to kill us every couple of days."

"Of course Seaweed Brain. We'll go to college together. I can take architecture, and we can both study marine biology," she replies, smiling at him.

Percy stares at her excitedly,"You'll take marine biology with me?"

"No, I'll learn it doing all of your homework," Annabeth replies dryly.

"Yeah," Percy responds,"you probably will. But, how about after college? What then?"

Annabeth looks at him seriously, her attention peaked,"What do you think?"

Percy nervously details,"Well I was thinking we would finish college in New Rome, get married on a Californian beach, and then you could design a house with a pool for us just outside of New York. We could have three children and homeschool them so they aren't attacked by monsters."

Annabeth looks at him, her eyes damp that he's thought about their future, too," Oh Percy, that sounds perfect."

She leans in kisses him. It was meant to be a quick peck, but it turned into something deep and passionate. Together, they stay out on the beach for hours, long after the sun has set.

They realize at some point how late it's become and pack up their supplies before heading back into the cabin. They change into their nightwear and snuggle together under the blankets on the old mattress. The fall asleep together, enjoying each other's warmth.

Percy has a fairly easy time, for a demigod anyway, falling asleep. He dreams he's in a white room, about the size of a gymnasium, and it's completely empty. Everything is pure white, you can barely even see where the floor ends and the wall begins. Everything smells like the chemicals in cleaning products. The room is brightly lit, but there is no visible light source.

Percy looks around and realizes he's in his orange Camp Half Blood shirt, and jean shorts. Suddenly, a boy appears in front of him. The boy's sitting cross legged and facing away from Percy. He's also in an orange Camp Half Blood shirt. Around his neck, you can see a little bit of leather. The boy has windswept, raven hair. His skin is tanned and his build muscular and athletic. He looks about seventeen, giving Percy a horrible feeling.

"Who and what are you?" He asks the strange boy.

The boy whisks his head around and looks at Percy. The boy's eyes are sea green, but they aren't warm and inviting like Percy's told his are. No, the boy's eyes are hard and cold. And his face, it's Percy's.

"What are you?" Percy asks again.

The boy doesn't answer, but just stares at him. Percy stares back.

Just when Percy is about to look away, having lost hope of receiving an answer, when a voice identical to his own speaks,"I am the splitter of men, the doer of deeds, servant to the gods, nightmare of demigods," the boy claims, rising to his feet and turning around," I am the king of manipulation and the master of sorcery. I am Perce, and I have been sent to train you."


	5. Chapter 5: Dreamland

**Hello everyone! Sorry this chapter is so short. I really just needed to explain this dream, and what happens during it. Later on I will post a long chapter to make up for this one. And, I know, you're probably thinking ****_what the heck is this?_**** [Spoiler Alert: Maybe this has something to do with the potion.] I would love to hear your comments, reactions, and ideas about what's happening, so feel free to PM me or review. Enjoy!**

**-(Separater)-**

"What do you mean? I've been trained by the immortal Chiron. Why have you been sent to train me?" Percy replied confused, obviously, as to why someone sent this boy to train him in his sleep.

"I obey my masters. Now, to begin," Perce waves his hand and the gymnasium transforms, Percy is sitting on the couch in his apartment, Annabeth is sitting next to him. They are watching Finding Nemo, again.

Perce continues,"Your mom has just finished baking blue chocolate chip cookies. What do you do?"

Percy looks around,"How is this training? This could never help me survive."

"I do only what I have been instructed. This is necessary," Perce reaches over and injects something into Percy's arm,"and so is this. It ensures you obey me and answer all of my questions truthfully. Now, answer my question, what do you do?"

"I go into the kitchen, thank my mom, and bring out the plate of cookies to share with Annabeth," Percy looks like he wants to say more, but is unable to.

"No. That is incorrect," Perce grabs the neckline of Percy's shirt with his left arm and lifts him high into the air. He pulls his right arm back and clocks him in the face,"What do you do?"

"What I said before."

"No, wrong answer. You make your mother come and bring you the cookies, and only share with Annabeth once she asks," Perce clocks him two more times, breaking Percy's nose.

Percy cries out in pain, even though it's only a dream, it hurt. A lot. He tries to tell the boy, Perce, he doesn't want this training. He doesn't want to do this anymore, but whatever the boy injected him with prevents him from doing so. How he hates Perce. Percy wishes Annabeth were here, she would help him break this spell. Percy is practically shaking with anger.

"Oh no, none of that," Perce taunts, somehow knowing Percy's thoughts. Perce drops Percy, and he falls to the ground. Percy lies in a crumpled heap, blood streaming from his face. Perce comes over and kicks him, before pouring water on him to heal his wounds. The scene they were in fades away, and a new one appears.

Perce takes Percy through a variety of scenes like the first one. Always, Perce asks what Percy would do, and beats Percy when he gives the nice response, telling him he has to take the mean one, the lazy one. Perce always pours water on Percy, healing his wounds so that each scene he can beat Percy freshly. This continues over and over again for the rest of the nights

When Percy wakes up the next morning, he remembers nothing of his strange dream, only a flash of pain, and a lingering sense of unease.


	6. Chapter 6: Best Breakfast Ever

**Hey peeps! I know creepy dreams, but if you can wait until next chapter, it will all be explained! Sorry if I go from updating every other day to every two or three days, because winter break is over! :'( Anyways, enjoy the new chapter!**

Annabeth watches Percy worriedly. She woke up about ten minutes ago to the sun rising, and immediately heard him calling out in pain. And, weird as it seems, muttering something about a purse. She woke from a dream she can't remember feeling tense. Annabeth watches, distraught, as tears silently stream down his face, his body jerking as if reacting to punches. After another minute or so, she can't watch him anymore and kisses him awake.

Percy wipes his face and looks at her, then after a moment says, "Good morning beautiful."

"So, what were you dreaming about," Annabeth asks, wanting to make sure he's okay.

"I don't remember," Percy replies. Annabeth looks at him carefully, and, even though he's shifting uneasily, she can tell he's telling the truth.

"Alright," Annabeth gets out of bed,"I'm getting changed, but you can change after breakfast if you want."

"Awesome," Percy mumbles, rolling over. Within a few seconds he's fast asleep.

Annabeth rolls her eyes and changes into t-shirt of her favorite color, sea-green. She throws her hair into a messy ponytail and puts on some ratty old jeans and her sneakers. Annabeth knows Percy saw the boxes of cereal she brought and placed in the cabinet, but she also knows that he didn't bother to look inside them. She pulls the three boxes down, but instead of Captain Crunch, Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms, the one box holds a box of graham crackers, one has some dry wood, a pair of logs, some sticks, some kindling, and a lighter, and the third has a couple full size chocolate bars and a giant bag of jumbo marshmallows.

She exits the cabin and starts a fire with the dry wood she brought, saving some aside to add later, and others for roasting marshmallows. _And, I know, _Annabeth thinks to herself, _s'mores for breakfast isn't very healthy, but the look on Seaweed Brain's face when he finds out will be priceless! He won't even know what to do._ She pulls the box of graham crackers, the marshmallows and the chocolate bars and lay them out by the fire, but far enough away that the chocolate won't melt.

Annabeth walks into the cabin, grabs a bucket, goes to the ocean and fills it with salt water, before walking back to the cabin. She stands by Percy's bed, hesitating, before deciding that the reaction would be worth it. She dumps the water on Percy.

Percy sits bolt upright, water dripping off his face,"What was that for? What happened to kissing me awake! And now I'm soaking wet from cold ocean water," Percy frowns at her.

Annabeth, who is cracking up, responds,"Seaweed Brain! One, you weren't having a nightmare, and two, you know you can dry yourself off, right?"

Red blossoms on Percy's cheeks, as he wills himself dry,"Please tell me you have have something awesome planned after breakfast."

"Of course Seaweed Brain. Come with me if you want to know what," and with that, Annabeth walks out of the cabin. _Want to know what? Now I'm starting to sound like him,_ Annabeth mentally snorts at herself, but she isn't really upset.

She sits by the fire and adds another piece of wood before opening the bag of marshmallows. She hears Percy creeping up not so stealthily behind her as she opens the box of graham crackers. Suddenly a pair of hands cover her eyes, and Annabeth calls out,"I know it's you Seaweed Brain."

Percy removes his hands and sits across from her, on the other side of the fire, and looks around in awe as if the scene before him is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen,"Are- are we having s'mores for breakfast?"

"Why yes Percy, I do believe we are!" I respond, laughing at him. His face looks so dopey, I just don't know what to do with him. I hand him a stick and some marshmallows, and he starts to toast.

After the incident where we had to throw a flaming marshmallow in the ocean, we decided we had enough s'mores. We cleaned each other's faces from all of the sticky marshmallow remnants, and the rest of the day has been kind of dull in comparison. It's about three, three thirty in the afternoon, and everything we brought is packed up in the car already.

Currently, I'm trying to get Percy in the car, too,"Percy, your mom said to be home by dinner."

"Aw, just another few minutes!"

"What if there's traffic?"

"We can tell her you tried, and that-"

I lean in and kiss him. Who knew teenage boys could be so stubborn? Actually, scratch that, I did. I pull away after a moment, "Now will you come?"

"Okay," he pulls me close to me and kisses me again. After a while, he pulls back,"And now I'll drive."

"You don't have to Percy."

"It's only fair Wise Girl, you drove here, I'll drive home."

"Alright, but don't get lost, Seaweed Brain," and with that we climb in the car. Annabeth tries to help Percy, but he calls her annoying, repeatedly, and tells her to do something else. She decides to take nap, because she has nothing better to do, and she didn't get much sleep last night. Annabeth drifts off slowly, but soon she's fast asleep. She hopes to herself that she doesn't have any nightmares, that would cause Percy to wake her up, and, she doesn't want to risk him crashing.

Annabeth finds herself dreaming that she's in a bright, sterile room, entirely white and completely empty except for a wooden desk. The desk looks to be plain oak wood, and has multiple drawers. It has a green office chair next to it, the kind the spins and has wheels.

On the other side of the desk from her stands a girl. The girl is plump, and her hair is honey blond curls. She wears a baggy violet t-shirt and jeans, and worn down sneakers on her feet. Annabeth notices that the girl is wearing little owl earrings, identical to Annabeth's favorite pair. The girl has a bit of leather showing on her neck, insinuating that she's wearing a camp necklace. Annabeth herself is dressed exactly how she was when she fell asleep. The girl turns, and Annabeth realizes in shock, even though she'd already suspected, that it's an alternate version of herself. The double conjures a vaccine and inserts it's contents into Annabeth's arm. Suddenly, memories of the previous night's dream come to her as the girl speaks,"Hello Annabeth."

"Hello Ann," Annabeth hears herself responding. Oh, how Annabeth hates Ann. Ann injected the cursed serum, again. Annabeth is only able to do what Ann instructs of her. Ann had told her she was sent to train her and that she had to do everything perfect. Apparently, Athena said she couldn't be her favorite daughter if she wasn't, and that wounded Annabeth's pride. How was she supposed to do that ? She is dyslexic!

"Write an essay on… Hmm, let's say Athena," Ann commands. Annabeth is boiling below the surface, but she, unfortunately has to obey her. She writes and writes, until everything she knows about Athena is down on paper. Ann looks it over, critisizing every little, minuscule mistake. Ann makes Annabeth rewrite the essay over and over again. Annabeth just keeps trying to make it perfect. Curse the gods, this girl just keeps insulting her for the stupidest things…


	7. Chapter 7: Explanations and Evidence

**Hello again readers! Sorry if Jess sounds a little different from here on out, it's just that before I was writing her based on stereotypes, and now I've finally developed her background enough to really grasp who she is. If I got anything about high school wrong, sorry, but I haven't been there yet. Also, they take Latin instead of Greek because my high school doesn't offer Greek. Also, I only got, like, one review on the last chapter. Maybe we could try for three? Because I know that there are at least, like, fifteen of you following this, and I _love_ to hear feedback from you guys. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Jess' block one class, Latin, is with Percy and Annabeth. Mr. Browtmen, the teacher drones on in front of the class about Latin proverbs, but Jess isn't really paying attention. She looks around at the familiar classroom decor. No windows, white walls. Gray tile floor. A rainbow of posters going across the back of the room describing parts of speech in Latin. A variety of corny inspirational posters sprayed across the rest of the room. An Interactive Board in the front of the room displaying today's lesson. Jess doodles absentmindedly on her notes page, thinking about her plot for Percy.

She looks to the back of the classroom where Percy and Annabeth sit next to eachother. Jess tries not to make it too noticeable, as they sit a row behind her, and on the other side of the classroom. She knows her plan is working, though. Percy dropped a pencil and waved his hand at it like it was too far, instead of jumping to get it like he usually would. Annabeth picked it up and laughed quietly at him. So, it's not much. But it's there. Jess isn't so gleeful and enthusiastic about her methods anymore, though. Her conscious caught up with her over the weekend. The potion shouldn't be noticeable to anyone else yet, because they aren't looking for it. The description said that it's effects show a tad more each separate time the person wakes up from sleep.

Jess thinks about what it may do. The effects differ depending on the person, but it supposedly changes their behavior. For someone who only falls asleep once every 24 hours, it's supposed to take about three months to be complete, but Jess knows that Percy and Annabeth often wake from nightmares and fall back asleep, so it'll take about a month and a half. Jess isn't sure exactly how the potion works, she just knows that if suppresses some character traits, while inflaming others. Maybe some kind of dream therapy? The effects on the person's personality are supposed to be completely gone by the time it's been ten months since the potion was administered. It doesn't matter to Jess that the effects aren't permanent, though. It just needs to be enough to push them apart.

Jess looks down at her paper and realizes that she drew a picture of herself kissing Percy, and she quickly crumples it up. Ethan, the boy who sits next to her looks up at the sudden noise, but quickly settles back into the Latin Daze, as Jess decided to call it. Jess sneaks another look at Percabeth, and notices that Percy is falling asleep, and Annabeth keeps poking him to keep him awake. Jess knows it's the first block on a Monday, but seriously? What were they doing all night that made him so tired? Actually, scratch that, she doesn't want to know. She grabs a new piece of paper and begins to draw on it.

Thank goodness Jess, Percy and Annabeth have gym together next block, otherwise Jess doesn't think Percy would be able stay awake another class. Or herself, for that matter. Jess looks at the clock, _ugh, _she has to suffer through another twenty minutes of class. She looks over, once again, at Percy and Annabeth. _They look so happy together… Do I really need to break them up? _ Jess shakes her head at herself. She deserves at least one piece of true happiness, doesn't she? She looks down at her paper again. Her eyes threaten to mist at the picture sitting there. She looks sadly at the portrait of her mother hugging her, a childhood dream that will never come true. A single tear rolls down her cheek, and she sits like that for the rest of class, wiping it off when the bell rings.

Jess walks out of the classroom before Percy and Annabeth and walks to gym with her friend Kyla. Everyone stays out of their way, unlike if she'd walked with Percy and his nerd friend. Jess tries to hate Annabeth

"Jess, did you see how Percy and Annabeth look at each other? I ship it!" Kyla exclaims to Jess for the fifty thousandth time. She's been saying that since Annabeth switched to Goode.

"Yeah," Jess responds wistfully,"If only I could get a guy to look at me like that."

Kyla looks at her, confused,"You've turned down a dozen boys, and every day, like, two dozen check you out."

_Ah Kyla, _Jess thinks to herself, _she doesn't get it._ Jess looks at Kyla and tells her oblivious friend,"I don't want a guy to like me for my body, I want one that likes me for my personality. I want one like-"

"_Percy Jackson_, I know," Kyla snorts,"You just go on and on about him. Jess, whatever you're plotting, you need to get it inside your head that you can't break up Percabeth. They're soul mates. He _loves_ her."

"And I love him. How do you know that what they have isn't just teenage lust?" Jess grasps for ways to convince Kyla Percy can be hers.

Kyla looks at her sympathetically,"I've seen the way he looks at her and she looks back, like they have eyes for only each other, and have been to hick (Kyla doesn't like to cuss) and back to be together. Sorry, Jess, I know you're heartsick for him, but you have no chance."

Jess is stunned that Kyla actually pays attention enough to notice these things, and as they enter the locker room together, all Jess can come up to respond with is,"Is it really that obvious?"

Kyla looks at her a moment,"To the average person, no. But I can tell, there's a far away look in your eyes when you talk about him as if you've already planned your whole wedding. Whenever he's around, you look slightly flushed, as if his presence makes you nervous. Also, whenever you're around someone you like, you have this weird habit of twitching your left foot ever so slightly."

Jess' mouth drops so far open she wouldn't have been surprised if someone stepped on her tongue. No wonder Kyla planned to go into psychology. Kyla has never had the best grades, but, wow, she's really perceptive. Even more so than her best friend Jess knew. Kyla had noticed the new hope in Jess' face when she looked at Percy and Annabeth, and how she kept slipping glances at them during classes. Kyla knows that Jess did something to Percabeth. But, she knows it's not the right time to ask Jess about it. No, that would take some persuading, and more evidence, but Jess doesn't know that Kyla noticed the changes, too.


	8. Chapter 8: Just Some School Time

**Sorry if this seems like a filler, it isn't, I just felt the need to show a bit more of their school life. If you want more school in the story, PM me or review to let me know, I'm always trying to make the story as interesting as possible. And, again, sorry if this seems like a filler, but I do have some interesting stuff planned for the upcoming chapters. Anywhoo, PLease enjoy!**

Jess and Kyla parted to get changed for gym. Annabeth rushed into the locker room just before the bell rang, looking flushed, and Jess could easily guess what she's been doing. Jess got changed thinking about what Kyla had said. The girl may be a bit of a ditz, but she has a point. Jess wonders to herself how many other people know about her crush? She hopes it isn't too many. The girls huddle in the locker room together, a clump of dark blue shorts and white t-shirts sporting the phrase _Good Goode High_. Jess spots Annabeth over in the corner staring into space, and works her way over to her.

"Hey Annabeth," Jess greets her, having learned a long time ago never to shorten her name. She notices Annabeth's eyes look tired and a little haunted. _I wonder what that's from? _Jess blinks a few times, it's probably from Annabeth's nightmares.

Annabeth doesn't respond at first, but after a moment she shakes her head, as if clearing something from her mind,"Oh, hey Jess."

"What were you two doing last night that made Percy so tired in Latin today?" Jess asks, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Annabeth turns a bright red,"Not that! I swear!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes!"

"Then what were you doing?"

Annabeth is slowly returning to her natural coloring,"Percy woke up in the middle of the night screaming, and I woke up, too. We spent an hour, uh, not going to say that, but then we went back to sleep."

Jess forms her face into a perfect image of sympathy, but inside she's celebrating, her plan must be working,"Oh, that's too bad. Have your nightmares gotten any better?"

Annabeth shakes her head,"Sadly, no."

Just then, the gym teacher in the girls locker room, Ms. Volfer, blows her whistle,"Alright girls, you can head into the gymnasium to begin your laps!"

The girls file into the gym and begin walking in circles around the exterior. Soon, the boys come out of their locker room and join them. Jess and Annabeth, who are walking together, watch as Percy is the last one to exit the locker room.

Annabeth laughs,"And he says _I_ take forever to get changed. Seaweed Brain."

Jess laughs along with her. To be honest, Jess doesn't hate Annabeth as much as she would like to. She wants to be able to despise Annabeth with all of her being, but she can't. Annabeth is a lot of the things Jess wants to be. She's nice and friendly, but still stands up for herself and what she believes in. She doesn't take crap from anyone. She's deadly smart. And, she has Percy. _I need to hate this girl,_ Jess tells herself, yet again. But somehow, she can't.

Percy jogs to catch up with them, and the group of 'friends' makes small talk together as the other gym teacher, Mr. Walrin, or as some some students call him, Mr. Walrus, tells them it's time for them to run. Mr. Walrin is a balding, brown haired man that could lose a few pounds. Or a hundred. Seriously, how is he a gym teacher? Anyway, after five minutes of running laps around the gym Ms. Volfer calls for everyone to go to their spots. Spots are an assigned stretching spot in the gym. You do that day's workout while the gym teachers take attendance based on whether or not you're in your spot. Spots are done by last name, and because of it Annabeth doesn't sit anywhere near Percy and Jess.

Percy is somehow the only student in the massive gym class with a last name that starts with the letter J, so Jess' spot , because she has the last name Kardlenra, is next to his. They do the stretches Ms. Volfer calls out while Mr. Walrin takes attendance. Once he's done, Ms. Volfer has them do 60 sit ups and 50 push ups. Then, it's time for the day's activity. They were split into two teams for doctor dodgeball and, unfortunately, Jess was with Annabeth, but not Percy. After a very brief discussion, Annabeth is selected as the doctor, and the game begins. Immediately, it's obvious that the other team's doctor is Percy, but no one can get him out, and Annabeth is so sneaky about tagging people that no one figures out that it's her. After forty minutes, everyone is told to go back up to the locker room, even though neither team was able to win.

Jess was happy, though. She sucked at dodgeball and always was one of those girls who stood gossiping in the back instead of playing. So, gym class was especially good, in her mind, because she got to stand back there the entire time and watch Percy run around. Oh, that boy is smokin'...


	9. Chapter 9: The Motive Shows Itself

**Hello, hopefully this chapter clears up a little why Jess resorted to doing what she's done. Please review or PM with comments and suggestions! And, as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**StarsNeverFade: I have a few chapters in the works where their school life will be discussed more, and it shows how their friends are reacting to Percy and Annabeth's changes.**

**Guest: That will be later on, but I will try to have both Percy and Annabeth there, now I just have to hope I remember... (Don't worry, I will.)**

The rest of the school day is relatively uneventful for Jess. As usual Kenzie picks Jess up in her red convertible, and they drive home together making idle small talk. Once they arrive at their large, two story home, Kenzie goes, as usual, immediately up to her room, and the two sisters don't speak to each other, unless absolutely necessary, for the rest of the night. Jess drops her backpack on the floor by the kitchen table and begins to do her homework. It was a light load, and after two hours of working she's done. Unfortunately, it's already five o'clock, which is when her parents come home.

Right on cue, the garage door opens, and her mom walks into the room, as the kitchen is the closest room to the garage.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day?"

It must have been a good work day, Jess hasn't seen her mom this affectionate in a long time, probably a month or two,"Oh, it was good."

Her mom doesn't respond, just walks to her home office. A moment later her dad walks into the kitchen with the mail. Jess notices two big envelopes grasped in his hands and mentally panics. _Crap, _Jess thinks nervously, _I forgot the first marking period ended. He's going to freak! _ Jess considers running, but she knows that will only make it worse. Her dad sits down at the table, in the seat she was sitting in just moments ago.

"Kenzie! Come down here this instant!"

Kenzie comes running into the kitchen, and shares a concerned look with Jess. Their dad starts to read Jess' report card, then Kenzie's. He puts them both down on the table. Both girls know what's coming. It's happened many, many times before. Even though both girls knew what would happen, they both hoped in vain that this time, something would be different.

He walks over to Jess,"You have two C's! Two, you crapturd! Do you know how much of a disgrace that is! I cannot have my daughters called idiots!"

Jess knows better than to point out that they were in Gym and Chorus, two classes that aren't important to the family name. Her dad slaps her twice across the face, hard. Her cheek stings, and tears threaten to spill from her eyes. But, she doesn't cry. She can't. It only makes him madder. She focuses all of her will power on being unfeeling, focusing a happy memory.

The one that comes to mind is the time her aunt came and stayed with them for a week when Jess was thirteen. That was the best week of her life, no joke. Nothing else comes close. Her aunt actually _paid attention_ to her. Her aunt took her shopping. Asked her about her life, and actually listened to the response. Waited at the bus stop for her and Kenzie. For one of the the only times in her life, Jess felt _loved_. It never ceases to amaze Jess that her aunt, such a kind and caring person, is related to her _father._

It's why she wants Percy so badly. He's so devoted to Annabeth. That's why she resorted to magic. He looks at Annabeth as if she's the only person he can see, as if the rest of the world is in black and white, and only Annabeth is in color. Jess desperately wants someone to look at her like that. Someone who loves her and isn't afraid to show it. She doesn't even think her parents care, but if she could snag Percy away from that stupid, well metaphorically, because that girl's a genius, Annabeth, then maybe she could finally be happy, beyond that, well, what is there to live for?

Her father punches her in the gut, pulling her from the wisps of her memories,"In gym! How the hell do you fail gym? You're going to be a fat bastard all your life, just like you are now, if you managed to get a C in gym! You should be glad I let you live under my roof! You can at least respect that by trying to achieve good grades!"

He punches her two more times for good measure before moving onto Kenzie. Jess staggers up to her room, a vision in pink. She curls into a fetal position on her bed. The tears she was hiding while she was in front of her father come spilling out. A hurricane of snot and tears covers her face within a few minutes. After about 20 minutes of crying about the cruel ritual her father pursues every time grades come in, she removes what remains of her little bit of make up and pulls out her iPhone 6 and calls Kyla.

"Ky- la-" Jess begins, her voice riddled with hiccups.

"Oh dear. Report card?"

"Ye- hess," Jess whimpers into the phone.

"Come with your night bag ASAP, mm kay?"

"Tha- anks Ky- la," Jess manages before hanging up and sobbing as another fit of tears hits her, and she sobs so hard that when she walks out her front door and heads down the street to Kyla's her face feels like it's crusted in salt.


	10. Chapter 10: A Not-So-Secret Secret

**Hello peoples! Just thought I'd say there are a couple OC focused chapters coming up. I know you're probably all here for the Percabeth, but I feel it's important to helping you understand the characters a little better. I promise I'll have a couple Percabeth chapters after them, so stick with me. In the mean time, enjoy! And remember, internet cookies for all that read! (::) (::) (::)**

Kyla walks through the hallway of her family's apartment into the living room, where her mother sits on the couch. Her mother is a heavier woman, and doesn't even care. She wears a white outfit, the only thing suitable for her job as a nurse. The kind face of her mother helps, as she is a pediatric nurse. Her mother has caramel colored skin and hair a brown so dark that it looks black, just like Kyla. Unlike Kyla, though, her hair is short and wavy, not long and straight, and her eyes are brown instead of blue gray.

"Hey Mom."

"Oh!" her mother exclaims,"I just got home, what do you need?"

"I told Jess she could stay the night," Kyla tells her mom, already knowing what the woman's reaction would be.

Her mother looks happy,"Thats fine. When will she be here?"

"IDK, I said ASAP."

Her mother looks at her with a disappointed face,"You know you're supposed to ask her when she'll be here. And, I told you to stop talking how you text."

"She was having a break down."

Kyla's mother's face blooms with understanding, before she nods her head vigorously,"I understand. I should go change out of my uniform…" she comments before scurrying away.

Kyla heads back to her room. Ever familiar with it's blue walls plastered with various posters, and a floor so messy you can't even tell what color it's supposed to be, Kyla gets to work cleaning up the floor. _Oh yeah, the carpeting is supposed to be white…_

20 minutes later, Kyla's floor is clean, and her bed is pushed against the wall. Two sleeping bags are laid out on the floor, as Jess doesn't have her own, and Kyla's closet door is cracked open. Not much, but enough for a hidden camera to see. A camera stands on a tripod, hidden in her clothes. She wants to record this, but not in a mean way. No, she just wants to analyze this later, to gather as much information as she can, and then she'll delete the video. It's just, she's worried about what Jess has gotten herself into. Whatever she did to Percabeth, it's not normal.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Kyla scampers to the door, where Jess stands, looking sad with a bulging duffel bag tossed over one shoulder, and her backpack over the other. Jess smiles tentatively, but it's obviously fake. She has on a baggy, fuzzy sweater and skinny jeans, a different ensemble from what she was wearing previously. It's probably why she took so long. Upon closer inspection, Kyla notices that Jess' face is moving slightly stiffly, likely from dried tears, and her eyes are slightly bloodshot.

"Hey Jess. Come on in."

Jess just nods and follows Kyla to her bedroom.

Kyla watches Jess intently,"Alright, tell me what happened."

Jess shifts nervously,"Well, I did my homework right after I got home from school. I finished around five which is right when my parents got home from work. It must have been a good day at Mom's law firm because she actually said hi to me. Dad came in a few moments later with our report cards and called me and Kenzie into the kitchen. He made us wait as he read them.

"He yelled at me once he finished reading mine, and slapped me across the face two or three times. He was really pi-" at this point Kyla is staring at her sternly,"He was really ticked off,"Kyla smiles at the fact Jess didn't use a cuss word," because I had a C in Gym and Chorus. Then he punched me in the stomach. Twice," Jess stops talking and breaks down into tears.

Kyla nods supportively,"Maybe we should talk about something else now."

"Li- ike what? These new ski-inny jeans I ha-a-cked off of Amazon?" Jess asks through hiccups.

Kyla realizes with a start that, as cruel as it is, this may be her only chance to find out what Jess did to Percabeth,"Those skinny jeans _are _awesome, but I just wanted to say sorry for crushing your dreams earlier. Maybe you do have a chance with Percy."

Her friend's face lights up,"You re- eally think so?"

Even though she feels horrible for lying, Kyla does it becuase she believes it's for Jess' sake,"Maybe, if you can find a way to break them apart. What's your plan?"

Jess looks like a deer caught in headlights, wide-eyed and terrified,"You know about that?"

After thinking carefully, Kyla says her next words,"Sort of, I know you've been watching them with renewed hope. So, can you please tell me your plan?"

She shifts nervously, not saying anything. After a minute she opens her mouth and the truth comes tumbling out,"SoyouknowhowIsaidAmazonhasawholeothersiteyoucanhackinto? WellIorderedapotionandgaveittoPercabeth."

Kyla creases her brow in confusion,"Can you say that again, but slower?"

Jess blinks, then begins again, excessively slow,"So you know how I said Amazon has a whole other site you can hack into?"

After some nodding from Kyla, Jess continues,"Well, I ordered a potion and gave it to Percabeth."

She is shocked, Kyla never thought Jess, her best friend, would do such a thing, but she makes an excited ditzy face and is about to ask what the potion does, when her brother, Daniel, one of Percy's friends, opens the door,"You did what?"


	11. Chapter 11: Surprise, Surprise

**Hello peeps! Welcome to the next chapter! I promise, there will be some Percabeth in a couple of chapters, but this night is an inportant event, okay? Also, if you think any of my characters are Mary -or Gary- Sues, please let me know. I would love suggestions from you guys, and I try to incorporate some of your ideas. In the mean time, enjoy!**

Jess almost breaks down crying, again, when Danny opens the door and glares at her and Kyla. Honestly, for Jess, it's probably the crappiest day she's had since Annabeth switched to Goode. First, her report card comes, then, her best friend figures out what an evil bitch she is, and then her best friend's brother overheard her confession and is probably going to tell her crush how horrid she is.

Jess confesses the effects of the potion, while the Lynallas siblings stare at her with masked faces. Jess finishes her story with a please don't tell directed at Danny, as she knows Kyla won't tell. Danny stares at her with a calculating expression on his face.

Finally, he responds with a look of self loathing and heartsickness,"Alright, fine. But, you have to do everything I ask of you, and I get Annabeth."

That was pretty much the last thing Jess and Kyla expected to hear from him, and both their mouths drop open in shock. She notices that Kyla is staring at Danny with narrowed eyes, before Jess wonders idly what Annabeth would think of him claiming her like this, but then she realizes what she's done to Percy is even worse, so it's not like she has room to judge. Out of the two of them, Kyla regains her tongue first,"You _like_ Annabeth?"

Danny's expression of self loathing increases tenfold in intensity,"Yes, I've been head over heels for her since she came to our school, but Percy's my…" he hesitates before using the slang, as that's not how he normally talks,"bro. But she has those perfect curls, and she's so smart and athletic and brave…" his voice trails off as he realizes he's rambling,"That isn't important. What matters is that we all end up happy, and that no one, I mean no one, finds out."

Kyla and I both nod vigorously. Suddenly Mrs. Lynallas shouts from down the hall,"Girls- and Danny- pizza's here! Time for dinner!"

Jess is amazed at how quickly Danny has taken over what was originally her burden and he stares fiercely at them,"No one speaks of this, kapeesh?"

Kyla and Jess repeat in sync as the climb to their feet,"Kapeesh."

Jess watches over dinner, and is pleasantly surprised to find that by looking at them, she can't even tell they're hiding something. Somehow, though, they're mother can, as she repeatedly asks 'who's the boy? Is he cute?'

According to Kyla, this is normal mothering stuff, but Jess finds it awesome that their parents actually care. Kyla and Danny each shovel in roughly five pieces of pizza, amazing both Jess and their mother, who laughs and say,"Sheesh! You two are going to turn into little butterballs if you don't stop eating like that!"

At which point her two children stare at her with expressions saying _I thought you loved me_. Their mother laughs and they realize that their food is safe. Soon, the meal ends and Jess and Kyla retreat back to Kyla's room.

Kyla shuts the door and stares at her a stern expression on her face,"I didn't get to ask earlier, why'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

Kyla shoots her a glare,"You know, the Po-"

Jess sighs inwardly, she should have known her stubborn friend wouldn't have let it go so easily,"Because I want Percy."

"But _why_? Why do you want him so badly? Why won't you let anyone else love you?"

"Percy is the perfect guy for me. Don't ask, I just _know _it, alright?"

Kyla is steaming, but there's nothing Jess can do about it now,"No! This is not alright! Why are you doing this? They're in love. How can you live with yourself?"

"Well I'm in love. Okay? Deal with it!"

"Would you want them to do this to you?" Kyla asks, barely containing her rage.

Jess explodes, unable to keep it in any longer. She knows her logic is dumb, but she doesn't care, just like she doesn't care that Kyla's mom is in the apartment,"Their lives are perfect, okay? They have everything they could want! All I want is love! I want Percy because he is loyal! He'll never cheat on me, or hurt me, or- or…"

Tears are flowing out of her eyes now,"All I've ever wanted since I was a little girl is to be truly loved by someone!"

Kyla hugs her and glares at her simultaneously,"You have to earn love, not cheat your way to it."

Jess pushes Kyla away,"Well, this is how I'm doing it, deal with it! If you aren't okay with me seeking my true love, then maybe you shouldn't be my friend!" And with that, Jess scampers down the hall and locks herself in the bathroom, and cries as Kyla bangs on the door.


	12. Chapter 12: Making Up and Make Up

**Hi everyone! I know this may seem like a filler, but it isn't. Percy and Annabeth will be in the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.**

**Now**** for the disclaimers. I don't own any charcters you recognize from the Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan does. I don't own the lyrics for _Do You Want To Build A Snowman?_ Disney does. Lastly, I don't own the trademarked line from _The Fault in our Stars_.**

Kyla sighed and sat down on the other side of the bathroom door from Jess and pulled out her cell phone. She really needs to get better at dealing with Jess' emotions. She types a message and hits send. On the other side of the door she hears a, well, a ping like sound, but stylized. She smiles. She knows Jess can't resist a text. Soon, a text pings on her phone, and she checks the conversation.

_K: do u want 2 build a snowman?_

_J: come on lets go & play_

Kyla responds, humming quietly to herself. She knows that this will work. She looks at her phone again, _I never c u anymore, come out the door, its like u've gone away!_ And send. A minute later she hears Jess fiddling with the lock, and the door opens, revealing a tear streaked face.

"Okay?"

"Okay."

And with that, the two teenagers, best friends again, walk to Kyla's room and spend the rest of the night snacking and chatting together.

**-()- -()- -()- Time Skip -()- -()- -()-**

Kyla groaned as a piercing alarm filled the room. She climbs out of her sleeping bag and turns off her alarm clock, before turning towards her friend, who, miraculously, is still sleeping. She pokes Jess, who just rolls over. She pokes her again and again, until Jess finally sits up, "Wha?"

Kyla gets a good look at her face and starts calculating how much time she needs to work her magic, "Jess, you have 40 minutes to shower, get dressed and eat breakfast."

Jess jumps out of bed and hits the shower, and Kyla goes searching through her drawers looking for what she wants to wear. Eventually she decides on a high waisted, just above knee length light blue skirt and a plain white cropped tee, one of her favorite outfits. Maybe Jonah will finally notice her… She turns off the camera she'd completely forgotten about before she picks out a necklace of moonstone just as Jess walks out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

A few minutes later, Kyla and Jess are dressed and shoveling Lucky Charms into their mouths like there is no tomorrow. Kyla's mom has already left for work, so it's not like they had to worry about her seeing Jess' bruised face. That only leaves Danny, and he's in the kitchen causing the microwave to create explosion sounds while trying to make 'brain food'. It's a wonder they let him skip a grade.

At exactly 6:40 Kyla pulls her friend away from the bowl of cereal and leads Jess into her bathroom, or as she likes to call it, her 'Magical Makeup Wonderland'. Kyla spends the next 30 minutes applying makeup to Jess' face until you can't see the bruise. Even though they've done this countless times before, it still amazes Kyla how cruel Jess' father is. Even more amazing that Jess has had her swear not to tell. Once the covering of the bruise s done, the next ten minutes are spent applying makeup to Kyla and Jess' faces that compliment their outfits. Kyla goes minimal, with just a little bit of concealer to hide a pesky zit in the middle of her forehead, while Jess decides to wear a little bit of mint eyeshadow to match her ensemble of a fuzzy mint sweater with white polka dots, skinny jeans and Uggs. Which is fairly typical for her.

Kyla pulls Danny, who is, annoyingly, also a senior, and Jess into her car, a beat up silver Jeep. It's not much, but she paid for it herself. They drive to school, and what should only take three minutes ends up taking ten due to heavy New York traffic, and the get to homeroom just as the late bell rings. Nailed it. Kyla ignores morning announcements, instead practically drooling over her crush, Jonah Melansky. Fair skinned, with blonde hair and blue eyes, he's already attractive. Take into account he's immensely toned from being on the swim team with Percy, and Kyla can't help but mentally wolf whistle every time she sees him. She heads to her first block, French, wondering to herself if she could make Percy talk to him for her.


	13. Chapter 13: Lunch at Goode

**Hello everyone! I hope that you guys enjoy the new chapter, and if this isn't enough Percabeth for you, then wait until the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Danny hates himself. He promised his crush that he'd go along with her cruel plan in an attempt to gain her affection. A plan to help her get _another _guy. Why did he promise her that? And not only that, she now probably thinks he's a complete jerk because he pretended he liked Annabeth. Brilliant plan, genius. How is he ever going to get her now? She thinks he likes another girl. Sure Annabeth is nice, but she's not his type, and he wouldn't do that to Percy. He's almost told him twice already, and it's only lunch of day one. This is a lot harder than he thought it was going to be.

"Danny!" Percy exclaimed. It's amazing they were friends, but apparently Percy likes to be around smart people. Seriously, he has a genius girlfriend, and accepted Danny into his friend group easily when Danny showed up in Senior classes without ever having been a Junior. At the time most people thought Percy was gay and emo, because he refused to date any girl that asked him out, and he has mysterious all over his body. His eyes always looked sad, but once Annabeth came, well, you can see what happened. It's like she's his sun that he can't live without, which makes Jess' plan all the more despicable.

"Uh, wha?"

"Seriously, and Annabeth calls me a Seaweed Brain. Maybe they should've had you redo a grade instead of skipping one," Percy says, obviously joking,"I said… Wait, what did I say again?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes,"Seaweed Brain, you were asking him if he's going to the party on Friday. You know, the one Becca and Sierra are hosting?"

Rebecca and Sierra Towens. Twin seniors, basically the school's sluts. They were hitting on Percy for the longest time, but gave up a week after Annabeth transferred. Unlike _someone_, cough, Jess, cough. The twins do throw wicked parties, though, and almost everyone goes. People even say they have everything legit, no drugged punch or break up plots. It's these parties that are why people put up with them.

"See, this is why I need her," Percy gestures at, Annabeth who rolls her eyes at him, "So, are you guys going?"

While she might seem like a bubble brain, Kyla is really nice, even if her brother doesn't think she has a functioning brain cell,"Of course I'm going sillies, when do I not go to a party?"

She winks at Jonah. It's amazing the boy hasn't figured out Kyla has a crush on him yet. Sometimes, though, Danny thinks to himself that Jonah may actually like her and is too shy to say it. Jonah glances nervously at her, "Sure, I'll go."

Meanwhile, Jess looks hesitant,"I guess, if you all decide to go."

Dang that girl is a good actress. Danny decides to put in his two cents,"Mom will make me go if Kyla goes so I keep her out of trouble."

Looking at him with a mixture of annoyance and excitement, Kyla comments in exasperation, "Ugh, I forgot. At least I get to make you go dress shopping with me tomorrow."

Kyla can be so vain at times. One time she was shopping, and she spent five hours in a shop only to decide she didn't want to buy anything there. Danny sighs, "So, the norm? Also, don't forget Mom cut off your dress funds."

His sister frowns at him,"I have my ways."

The other members of the swim team put in their availability, although Danny isn't really paying attention, as he's too busy staring at Jess. She looks at her tray with dismay, and it looks as though she hasn't touched her food, which is weird, because it looks as if it's her favorite type of cafeteria food, slop burgers, the healthy cafeteria equivalent to hamburgers. Jess reaches hesitantly for her burger, then once she eats a bite, gobbles it like she usually does.

Percy, noticing who Danny's watching, elbows him and whispers, "Dude, if you really like her that much, then maybe you should ask her to the party."

"I'll think about it," Danny replies, knowing that he won't actually do it.

By now, everyone except for the famous Percabeth has said they're going, and Percy leans over to consult Annabeth, which involves a lot of his puppy dog eyes and some kissing. She sighs after a while, and he leans over and kisses her cheek.

"Alright," Annabeth finally says, "Seaweed Brain over here is making me come, so I hope it's as awesome as he says."

Everyone gapes at her open mouthed.

"What?" She exclaims, "It's not like I never go to parties."

Percy snorts, barely containing laughter at his girlfriend's statement, and said girl glares at him. Percy comes back with his puppy eyes, and everyone resumes eating eating, knowing that no one can resist those, and they don't want those eyes turned on them. Danny watches all through lunch, gauging how Percy and Annabeth are behaving. He thinks Jess and Kyla are right. You can see some differences. For example, instead of Percy walking his tray to the trashcan with Annabeth, he makes her do it for him. Or, if you look at Annabeth, she looked at her hamburger before each bite and bit off the exact same amount every. Single. Time. That is definitely not her normal way of doing it.

Soon, the teachers dismiss them to their classes, and Danny's class is AP Calculus with Annabeth. He watches the entire time, while taking notes of his own, of course, as she meticulously writes on her paper the neatest notes he's ever seen.


	14. Chapter 14: Fluffy Fluff

**Hello! I hope you guys likke my new chapter. And yes, I know it's fluffy, I've been getting a lot of requests to throw some fluff in. Which I did because I agreed. Sorry if it's not very good, but fluff isn't really my strong point. Enjoy, peoples, and feel free to review! Also, if you don't get the thing where they talk about switching roles, it just means Annabeth is usually the one in charge.**

**- ROC6**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from PJO or HoO, Rick Riordan does. Also, for those observant enough to notice the reference to Legend, by Marie Lu, I don't own that either.**

Percy, having finally finished his homework, waits as Annabeth puts the finishing touches on her essay. Sheesh, she's probably making it, like, absolutely perfect. A few minutes later, she gets up from her desk and flops onto the bed with him. He decides to bring up a topic that's been bothering him since lunch.

"Hey Annabeth?"

"Mmm?"

"You are okay with going to the party, right?" He's been feeling really bad about putting her on the spot like he did and making her go.

"Well, Percy, I was a little sceptical at first, but if you trust it to be safe, I'll follow your judgement."

Percy smiles at the statement, "Alright Wise Girl. Just promise to have a good time."

"Don't worry, I will as long as you're there," Annabeth rolls over and kisses him for a moment, before they stop and just stare into each other's eyes.

Replaying the events of school that day in his head, Percy comes up with an idea. He shoots a query at Annabeth, "Hey, Annabeth?"

She sighs, "Yeah Seaweed Brain?"

Percy knows she'll probably judo flip him for this one, but he asks anyway, "Why don't you try to be friends with the other girls at our table?"

She slaps him, "I do to try."

"How?"

"By resisting the urge to slap them," She replies. Typical Annabeth.

"Two things. One: Ow!" Percy whines, making a baby seal face, "And two, you could try a little harder than that. You're going to be stuck at school for the next couple of months, so you might as well try."

Annabeth gasps, "The world is ending!"

Moans can be heard coming from Percy as he rolls over, nearly falling off of the bed, "Not again… Tell them to call someone else."

The anticipated slap arrives, "That's not what I meant Seaweed Brain, it's just that you actually said something intelligent."

"I can be smart when I want to," replies said seaweed brain, making what is probably supposed to be a professor face, but he ends up just looking constipated.

Both members of the couple burst out laughing within seconds.

Percy attempts at seriousness again, "So you'll actually try?"

"Yeah," Annabeth responds, before adding, "But if this whole 'befriend the mortals' thing goes wrong, it's your fault."

"Alright. To start, I say you go dress shopping with them tomorrow," declares Percy.

"Can't I train with you instead?"

"No," Percy says in a mock stern tone, "Friends first, training second."

"But-"

"No," He rolls over so he's facing Annabeth again.

She sighs at him, "What did I do to you to deserve this kind of punishment?"

"Nothing, but the whole school is afraid of you."

"Good."

"No, not good, and you know that Wise Girl."

"But why do I have to befriend them? Why can't I just glower at them all?" she whines.

"It makes them suspicious. We have to act like we haven't been through two wars, Tartarus and Leo's birthday party."

Annabeth grumbles something in Greek for a few seconds along the lines of _why did he think it was a good idea to bring exploding donkeys,_ and _why do I have to do this _before staring open mouthed at her boyfriend. He stares back at her, just as wide eyed as they both realize what just happened.

"I like being the one in charge," Annabeth states, not surprising Percy, "Let's not switch roles like that again. Ever."

"Alright, Wise Girl. It felt weird over here, too," Percy agrees. He pulls Annabeth in for a kiss, which turns into a vigorous makeout session. They kiss each other passionately, as if it was their first. They nudge each other's mouths open. Tongues pushing against each other, the couple explores every nook and crannie of each other's mouths.

They wrap their arms around each other, and Annabeth starts gently tracing little circles on Percy's back, right where his Achilles heel was. She smiles through their kiss when she hears Percy's sharp intake of breath and feels him press against her. He pulls her even closer and starts playing with her hair, and she feels a tingle of electricity, the special chemistry they have, whenever his fingers brush tenderly against her neck.

A little while later Percy's mother calls the busy couple to dinner.

"Aww… Do we have to?" Percy whispers to Annabeth as he trails kisses up her neck.

She shudders with pleasure, "You know Paul will come and get us if we don't."

He pauses to pout at her, "Just a few more minutes?"

"Fine," she responds, though Annabeth smiles as she says it. She and Percy start full on kissing again. Just as passionately, if not more so, than before, pouring all of their love for each other into it.

"I love you Annabeth," Percy moans through their kiss, "so much it hurts when you're away."

"I love you too," Annabeth doesn't hesitate to reply, "Forever and ever, Seaweed Brain, until you're sick and tired of seeing me."

After a moment she pulls away, "Then why are you sending me away to go dress shopping?"

The son of Poseidon groans before pulling Annabeth close to him and kissing her again.


	15. Chapter 15: The Party (Part 1)

**Hello readers! I hope you've all been having a good week. This is your next update, (duh,) and I hop e you like it. I tried to make sure it was important to the plot, as I know the last one was a little irrelevant, but I was getting a lot of requests for fluff so I wanted to put some in. If you have't figured out when this is, it's the party on Friday that they were discussing.**

**-ROC6**

_I can't wait to see Annabeth, _Percy thinks eagerly. She went over to Jess' house an hour ago, as the other girls made her come over so that they could do her hair. The girls promised they'd meet the boys at the party, so Percy hasn't seen her since. He misses her and it's only been an hour. He, Danny and Jonah are waiting out in front of the Towens residence. The rest of the boys from the lunch table are in the house already looking for girls. Same with the girls, but looking for guys.

Percy's mind wanders while he waits for Annabeth, and he ends up thinking about Thanksgiving break, which starts tomorrow. This party is kind of in celebration. Anyway, the rest of the seven decided that they needed to meet up again, and Thanksgiving break was the closest available time. They decided to meet at Percy's house, and drive to camp together, since the one in New York is the closest airport to camp. They'd leave after a sleepover, of course, and then leave together on Sunday, as they're arriving tomorrow.

Soon, a battered silver Jeep Percy recognizes as Kyla's appears with a screeching halt, and Kyla climbs out. A moment later Jess climbs out of the back seat, and don't get him wrong, they look nice, but when Annabeth climbs out of the car Percy lets out a small gasp. She walks over to him, her gorgeous golden glossy curls naturally bouncing as she walks, sometimes moving just enough to glimpse her silver owl earrings.

She smirks at Percy's expression, "You asked for this."

Then she walks towards the house, her dark purple skirt swishing down until it cuts off at her knees.

**-Time Skip-**

Annabeth snuggles up next to Percy, not really paying attention to the game around her, that is until, a certain girl asks Percy a question.

"Hey Percy, truth or dare?" Jess queries.

Annabeth nuzzles Percy's shoulder, surprised her stiff shouldered dress hasn't gotten in the way.

Percy hesitates, before picking the better choice for the first time that night, "Truth."

"Oh," Jess says disheartenedly, "Uh, if you couldn't date Annabeth, as in she'd never been in the picture, who would you date?"

Percy just stares at her, with an expression saying _Are you crazy?_ and making a bunch of fish-like movements with his mouth. Every girl in the truth or dare circle is egging him on to answer, and all of the guys are watching him in amusement. He moves to get up and run out of the room, but Annabeth grabs his arm and pulls him back.

"Uh, pass," He finally says, and most of the girls in the room visibly deflate, including the ones with boyfriends.

"But-" Jess starts to say, then stops when Annabeth shoots her a glare.

Percy looks around the room for a second, then asks, "Annabeth, truth or dare?"

She thinks for a moment about her choice, but her pride stops her from picking truth, as she has no idea what Percy would make her say, "Dare."

Percy smirks, giving Annabeth a feeling that that wasn't the best choice, "After every sentence you have to say 'Percy is the best.'"

Annabeth sighs and fiddles with the silver belt around her waist. She thinks a moment about who she's going to ask, as if she asks Percy, that game will just keep going back and forth between them. After a minute or two, she reaches a decision.

"Jess, truth or dare?" Annabeth queries, then adds with a glare at said boy, "Percy is the best."

"Yes," Jess replies dreamily, before realizing what she said, "Erm, dare."

Annabeth stares at Jess emotionlessly, but her metallic eyes say otherwise. It looks as if a tornado and a hurricane are fighting. With an earthquake. Times ten. And Jess is terrified.

"I dare you to answer my question truthfully. Percy is the best," the stormy eyed girl states, and Jess gulps. Whatever she wants to know bad enough she'll waste a dare to get it probably won't end well for Jess.

Annabeth meets Jess' eyes, "Do you now, or have you ever, had a crush on my boyfriend? Percy is the best."

She quickly looks away and squeaks, "Yes."

Annabeth shoots glare that could kill at Jess before putting her arm around Percy, as if claiming him.

Jess tries her goal again, "Percy, truth or dare."

Percy, completely oblivious to his girlfriend's anger at his answer responds, "Dare."

Jess, playing the part perfectly says, "Oh, okay. Uh, I haven't come up with anything for that, I'll tell you once I decide on something."

Her goal just got a whole lot easier.


	16. Chapter 16: The Party (Part 2)

**Hola virtual amigos! I think I spelled that wrong. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! A couple things, though, one, I'm writing a collab with ell13 that will go up on her account soon, so watch out for it. Second, tell me if Percy doesn't seem like himself and I'll try to fix it. Also, tyo everyone who has ever reviewed, thanks! Can we get four more for this chapter? I really want to hit fifty!**

**- ROC6**

Even though the music is pretty fast paced, Percy and Annabeth are slow dancing together. Warm and nestled in each other's arms, just staring into each other's eyes, the couple is content. And Jess is not. Time to give Percy his dare.

She waits until Percy walks away from Annabeth to do something, then walks up to him in her flowing blue dress and asks, "Hey Percy, I came up with your dare, can you come with me so I can talk to you without having to yell over the music?"

Percy glances back at Annabeth, then says, sighing, "Alright, I'll be back in a moment. You have three minutes for your dare."

_Perfect_, thinks Jess to herself.

Percy is a little nervous about what Jess came up with, especially after the whole 'Jess has/had a crush on him' thing. Seriously, who would've thought? Percy goes and tells Annabeth that he's going to the bathroom, knowing that if she knows what he's actually dealing with, she'll freak. Not panic attack freak, but she'll be furious none the less, and insist she'll go with him, and he doesn't feel like having her watch him do something stupid because he knows she'll just blackmail him with it later. Percy walks over to Jess, who's waiting by a doorway.

"Ah, good, you came," Jess greets him, eager to tell him her dare.

She leads him into the house, slinking through hallway after hallway, where only the dedicated person will find them. Or a person looking for their own room.

"Percy, I know your heart belongs to Annabeth," Jess begins, thinking to herself, _not for long, you __**will**_ _be mine_, "And obviously you now know that I have a crush on you. So your dare is to kiss me."

Percy opens his mouth to object, but Jess cuts him off, "I know you're incredibly loyal to Annabeth and would never cheat on her, but if you do this for me, it will help me get over you and move on."

"No Jess. I won't kiss you," He sighs, then adds, "I thought you were my friend."

"It's your dare, you have to do it, and I am," Jess states.

"Fine, ten seconds, but you tell no one," Percy growls at her. She knows he tries to be honorable, do the right thing, blah blah blah, so she knew he'd relent.

"Deal," she replies happily.

She grabs Percy, smashes her lips onto his. A small, unfamiliar, golden eyed girl walks into the room and sees this, her eyes going wide, she backpedals out of the room and runs off. Jess ignores her, and continues to make out with Percy for her remaining three seconds. She sinks into it, but Percy is staying as far away from her as possible. She pushes with her tongue against his warm lips, but he keeps his mouth stubbornly closed. His mouth is limp, infuriating Jess. Why can't he just kiss her back? It could speed the whole process along, and she won't have to see him change. She couldn't care less about leaving the potion effects on Annabeth, well, she could, but the point is it hurts her to do it to Percy.

Suddenly, a muscular Asian teen walks into the room. He pauses in shock for a moment, before his warm brown eyes darken and narrow with rage. He makes eye contact with Jess, and his glare terrifies her, but not as much as Annabeth's did. But still, she fears he'll kill her.

"Perseus Jackson, what are you doing?" He says quietly, his voice scarily calm.

Thankfully for both Jess and Percy the ten seconds end, and Jess scurries out of the room.

Meanwhile, Annabeth is busily talking to seven, well, except Leo. They were supposed to arrive tomorrow morning, and Leo is the only one that will now. Apparently Festus wasn't done with whatever upgrades Leo decided he needed this time. Hazel and Frank go off to look for Percy, as it doesn't take him that long to go to the bathroom, while the others explain.

Apparently they all met at Camp Jupiter, and because of an approaching storm system their flight was moved up. So, when they arrived in New York a couple hours early, they went to Sally's apartment, and Percy and Annabeth weren't there. Percy's mother then explained where they were, so they met them at the party so they could have a double sleepover, because where else are they going to sleep, and it meant spending more time with their friends.

The group just finishes the explanation when Hazel approaches, looking spooked. She looks at Annabeth timidly, "We found him."

Annabeth moves to go in the direction Hazel came from, thinking Percy may be in trouble, when Hazel adds, "He was kissing a mortal."

Jason, Piper and Annabeth stare at her in shock.


	17. Chapter 17: The Party (Part 3)

**Hello everyone! Thank goodness Presidents' Day weekend is here, I'm going to fall behind here otherwise, that's why this chapter is so short... Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new chapter! Thanks for 50 reviews! I didn't even think I'd get 12 when I started this story. Also, I feel like this story is getting a bit... Weird? Anyway, I'm probably going to start working my way towards the ending soon, just a heads up. Also, I'm looking to do a bunch of one shots about the families of the seven, so please shower me with suggestions!**

**- ROC6**

Frank is shocked. He has always looked up to the older demigod, and there goes Percy cheating on Annabeth. Now he's unable to decide whether to ask if it's a joke, cry, or beat him up. Okay definitely not that last one, but still. Frank decides on yelling at him, as Percy will certainly face a horrible punishment from Annabeth.

"Perseus Jackson what are you doing?"

Percy turns around swiftly, gripping Riptide, still in pen form, as if his life depended on it before relaxing somewhat at the sight of Frank, "Oh, it's you. I thought something was trying to kill me. What do you mean anyway…"

He trails off before whapping himself on the face at his stupid question. That was a low, even for him.

Frank glares at Percy, causing the other boy to tense up again, "Why would you cheat on Annabeth?"

"Look, I wasn't cheating-" he starts when Frank fiercely interrupts.

"Then why were you lip locked with that girl?"

Percy sighs, "We were playing truth or dare earlier and she couldn't come up with a dare at the time. Then she pulled me aside saying she had come up with one and forced me into it."

Frank stares at Percy, unsure whether he should be disgusted, shocked, or just plain angry. He settles for the last one.

"Wow," he comments, "You really are as stupid as they say you are."

"Oh, yeah? Well at least I didn't let Leo sacrifice himself without warning anyone."

"He had to do it, it was the only way."

"You could've at least told us!"

"Then you would've tried to stop him!"

Percy sighs again and lowers his voice, "Look, I was just playing by the rules."

Outraged at this explanation, Frank yells at him, "Playing by the rules? When have you ever played by the rules? And of all of the times to start, now was not it!"

"What was I supposed to do? Cheat? She could dare me to do anything!"

"What about Annabeth? Huh? Doesn't that mean you just cheated her?"

"She knows I could never cheat on her!"

A wind is appearing in the room as a small hurricane begins to whip up around Percy, and Frank has unsheathed his sword, willing to fight the son of Poseidon if the need arises.

"Then you better hope you're right because Hazel is probably telling her as we speak," seeing the shocked look on Percy's face he continues, "That's right. Hazel saw it too."

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

Annabeth follows Hazel through the house to the room she claims she saw Percy smooching another girl, the rest of the seven, which means Jason and Piper, trailing behind them. Soon Hazel announces that this is the room and that Frank is in there with Percy.

Hazel pushes open the door-and gasps. Annabeth looks at what's going on inside of the room, and, to say the least, is surprised. Much of the furniture is wet, along with the floors, walls and ceiling. There are some feathers and some fur scattered across the floor, and in the center of the room, the pair of boys circle. Frank, in full lion mode is snarling at Percy, his golden fur glinting. Percy, is engulfed in his own personal hurricane and he doesn't even seem to notice. Instead, he is staring intently at Frank, not even fingering Riptide. Either he doesn't consider Frank a threat, or he's just going to let Frank beat him up. Thankfully, neither boy looks injured. No matter what angle you spin it at, though, it doesn't look good.


	18. Chapter 18: Conversations

**Hello! Sorry the last chapter was so short, but I've been busy. Again, it's President's Day weekend, so I have a four day weekend to get everything typed, and I'm hoping I'll be able to get far enough ahead to not have to worry about getting a chapter up in time. I'm uploading this a day early as an apology, and I hope you accept and like it!**

**-ROC6**

Frank lunges at Percy, who looks at him with an open body language, as if saying _Wanna hurt me? I won't stop you._ Annabeth turns around and glares at Jason, who gets the message and summons wind to knock Frank away from Percy. Annabeth proceeds to walk right into the hurricane around her boyfriend and judo flip him. Immediately, the hurricane dies down and Annabeth stands over Percy.

"Percy. Why did you kiss another girl?" She asks, not bothering to mask the hostility in her voice.

Percy tells the story and everyone who hasn't already heard it listens with rapt attention. When he finishes, Piper, Jason and Hazel all move to join Frank's side in the argument, but Annabeth's actions stop them. The blonde girl slaps Percy, whom is now standing, just as everyone expected, but surprises them when she gives him a brief kiss. The rest of the seven in the room with them just stared before Piper asked what they were all thinking.

"Why aren't you angrier?"

Annabeth sighs and turns to look at the four other people in the room from where she was talking with Percy, "Because he is literally unable to cheat on me."

The others just look confused, so she elaborates, "Every hero has a fatal flaw, and Percy here-"

Annabeth nudges the mentioned boy, "Is so loyal he'd die for anyone, even if he's only know them for five minutes. Hence, it goes against everything I know about him and everything he's ever done to even think about cheating on me. Therefore, I'm not that mad. Am I going to let him out of my sight for the next few months? No. But I'm not angry with him."

**-()-()-()-Time Skip-()-()-()-**

The group is sitting around the table. Calypso and Leo, Piper and Jason, Hazel and Frank. They look at each other, hoping that they won't make enough noise to wake Sally, Paul, Percy or Annabeth. Especially the last two, as Annabeth normally would've been up by now had she and Percy not been awake half the night thanks to nightmares. Everyone had been asleep in the living room, but after the first couple times Percy and Annabeth woke everyone up with their screaming, the couple had retreated to Percy's bedroom. Just like the night before. At least when they were in there the screams were muffled and they no longer woke everybody up.

The group that spent the night in the living room sits awkwardly, waiting for someone to speak up about the topic they all want to discuss but no one has the courage to comment on. They sit in their PJs staring at each other for a good ten minutes, eyes nervously flicking towards the hall and no one making contact.

Finally, Frank asks the question everyone has been thinking, "Has anyone else noticed it?"

Leo snorts at him and facepalms, leaving Calypso wondering why he smacked himself. Everyone else just raises an eyebrow, or at least attempts to. They all nod in response.

This time Jason speaks up, "Why do you think it's happening?"

"Maybe it has something to do with that girl," Hazel suggests, and the rest of the group looks thoughtful.

"But how would a mortal be able to get her hands on that type of magic, or any magic?" Calypso queries.

Hazel and Frank look at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation until Leo interrupts, "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Well," Frank begins, "Is it possible she could hack a computer because…"

He trails off, and everyone looks at the pair expectantly, so Hazel picks up her boyfriend's thoughts, "If she could, could she have hacked something off of Amazon?"

"Hold on, Amazon? They sell that stuff? I want some!" Leo comments.

"Yeah, Hazel, Percy and I visited last spring on our quest to Alaska. They sell all kinds of magical stuff," Frank explains.

The group of demigods ponders the idea of hacking something off Amazon for a moment before Piper speaks up, "But can a potion from Amazon really do that?"

Leo snorts, again, and starts to answer her, "Piper, if the Hecate cabin has pig bombs on stock, of course it's possible. Thinking of pig bombs, there was this one time I had the Stolls steal some for me, and you should've seen Drew's face when Lou Ellen tur-"

"I think we have heard enough," Calypso interrupts.

Piper rolls her eyes at Leo's antics, but she's still kind of annoyed about that, Drew nearly killed her, "I'm just glad I wasn't there when you threw it. And did I have to be there when Lou Ellen turned Drew human again? Drew started ranting about how 'nothing looks good on a pig' and how 'if I was counselor this never would've happened'"

"Yes, well, back to the point Leo was making," the daughter of Atlas butted back in, "it is quite possible that a potion could have caused it."

"Really? A potion can do that?" Jason asks, surprised a simple potion could cause such a change in his friends' behavior.

Having nodded in response, Calypso brings up another good point, "Shall we tell anyone?"

The demigods all ponder the question, before Jason says, "I vote we tell Chiron, no one else."

The group nods in agreement, and the meeting breaks up. Just in time, too, as Annabeth is now stumbling down the hallway, still half asleep.


	19. Chapter 19: Crashing Down Around Her

**Greetings fellow life forms! Here's another chapter! This one is longer (yay!). Sorry, but the next few chapters won't talk much about Percy and Annabeth as I'm edging towards the end soon. Does this chapter seem cliche? If so, apologies, and please let me know. Uh, I think that's all, so please enjoy this new chapter!**

**- ROC6**

**P.S. Psst! I'm still looking for ideas for one shots focused around the seven and their families! If you have any please PM me! (Or guest review.) **

Jess, sitting in Latin once again, watches Percabeth with a mixture of sorrow and happiness. Sorrow because she doesn't like seeing Percy change. Happiness because the potion is working. Percy is now lazy. Very lazy. And open. A lot more so than before. To the point where Annabeth has slapped him for saying too much. Thinking of Annabeth, she's been spending almost all of her time now working on schoolwork, and Jess thinks that the stress is starting to get to her. Mostly because Percy was eating cookies in the library during study hall while she was working, don't ask how the librarian didn't know, and Annabeth snapped at him, then took his cookies and made him watch as she ate some, something she wouldn't have done a few weeks ago. That had to torture him.

It's been two weeks since they got back from break. One week until Christmas. One more week of school. One month and one week since Jess slipped Percy and Annabeth the potion. Jess is worried, even though Annabeth has been a bit more territorial about Percy, nothing else in the couple's relationship seems to have changed, and Jess is starting to fear that even with the help of the potion she won't be able to break them up.

Suddenly, the classroom phone rings, and Mr. Browtmen walks over and picks it up. He talks to the person on the other end for a moment before hanging up.

"Jess," he calls, "You're wanted in the guidance office."

Jess stands up nervously and walks out of the classroom with all of her books, as instructed. She wonders what the counselor could possibly want with her. Kyla didn't tell, did she? She walks into the only one of the two guidance offices currently available, which is decorated in light colors and pictures drawn by students, and approaches the nervous looking counselor.

"Excuse me? Mr. Browtmen sent me. I'm Jessica Kardlenra. He said you wanted to see me," Jess nervously explains.

The counselor nods, and Jess sees a glimpse of her desk, apparently she's Ms. O'Hearn, "Jess, I have some bad news for you. This morning, on her way to work, your mom, well, she got in a car crash. The other driver plowed right into her."

Jess gasps. Sure, she and her mother were never close, but it's still her mother, "Is she okay?"

Ms. O'Hearn averts her eyes, "She's in the hospital in critical condition. The doctors don't think she'll make it. Your sister is with the other counselor right now. Your dad wanted to pick you up so you could go see her."

Jess sits on the lone, overstuffed beanbag chair. Her mom can't be dying. She just saw her this morning, up and well. How could she leave Jess here? Jess needed her. How could she be dying? How… How… Jess' mom was, no is, the carefullest driver she knew, ugh, _knows_, how could she have gotten in a car crash? If she were to get in a car crash, Jess assumed it would be when her mother taught her how to drive, not on the way to work…

Jess' body heaves up and down as she sobs. How can her mother be dying? This thought keeps running through her head over and over again. She doesn't notice when the door opens, or when the other guidance counselor leads Kenzie into the room, looking as if her world is crashing down around her. Jess does notice, though, when her sister wraps her arms around her. Jess leans in and does the same, and the two girls, sitting on the bright pink beanbag chair, cry in each other's arms. Neither one is quite able to believe that their mother, their precise, cunning, overprotective, laywer of a mother could've gotten into a car crash.

Once the girls compose themselves enough to walk through the school, the counselors lead them to the parking lot, where their dad is waiting in his car. The pair climbs in the car, and the counselors leave to go back inside. The inside of the car is littered with used tissues, and there are three boxes sitting in the back seat unopened. Kenzie and Jess gratefully open the tissues, and their dad moves their car to a parking spot. The three don't say a word to each other, they just sit and cry, knowing they may never see Lucy Kardlenra awake again.

After awhile, their father speaks to them, "Girls, we should go to the hospital soon. They agreed to let us visit her."

Jess and Kenzie sniffle a couple times and nod their heads yes. Their dad silently acknowledges them and drives towards the Manhattan Hospital. Within a few minutes they arrive, as they were fairly close already, and the trio heads into the emergency ward. The woman at the front desk leads them to the room they need once they explain the situation, sniffing disapprovingly about the fact that Jess and Kenzie are missing school, and the trio barely manages to contain their tears long enough to walk down the hall.

When they enter the room they see Lucy with all sorts of tubes sticking out of her, and casts covering her legs. The room is dim. The heart monitor next to the bed provides a rhythmic beep beep beeping that isn't at all soothing. Mrs. Kardlenra's eyes are closed, and she looks peaceful in her sleep, even though she has to be in a lot of pain. Jess, Kenzie, and their father approach the bed slowly.


	20. Chapter 20: Her Anchor to the World

**I'M SUPER SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING YESTERDAY BUT MY ACCOUNT WASN'T LETTING ME SUBMIT DOCUMENTS! Obviously, I solved the problem, but it still doesn't accept copy and pasted documents. I will still update as I would've had it gone up correctly yesterday. I know you guys probably want to see more Percabeth, but this is important to the story line, I swear it on the Styx. *Cue rumbling thunder* Anyways, please enjoy this chapter, and feel free to send in one shots about the families of the seven. I'm really stuck there. Maybe ideas for what happens when Leo babysits Percabeth children? Dunno... Anyway, enjoy!**

**-ROC6**

**P.S. I should have another chapter of Separated for you guys soon if you read that.**

Jess' father pushes through his daughters, and runs to his wife's side. He examines her for a moment, before dropping into a chair by her bed. His normally stern expression is gone. Shattered. Without it, he looks almost… Kind. His eyes, an icy blue, have lost their frost like tone. Jess glimpses, for a moment, another man that once was, before he was taken over by his greed. Within seconds, though, the man's hands cover his face, and his body heaves up and down, sobbing by his comatose wife.

Jess didn't realize she had frozen until she feels Kenzie's warm hand clasp hers and squeeze it reassuringly. Kenzie leads her to a chair before plopping down in one next to it. Jess sits there, frozen in shock. How could her mother, such a strong woman, be reduced to this? Her skin, normally containing a healthy glow, is a chalky white. Her earthy hair, usually knotted in a slick bun, is limp and strewn all over the pillow. Her face, peaceful. This woman lying before her is nothing like the mother Jess knew. She thinks about her mother and the few happy memories they have together.

The tears flow as Jess remembers when she was six, and she came home carrying her project from school. It was a poster about whales, and she spent all week researching, drawing and coloring it. She ran to her mom and showed it to her, telling her all about how the teacher praised her in front of the class about how neat and detailed it was. Jess' mother looked at her with pride, and Jess remembers glowing at having been good enough to attract her mother's attention away from work, a rare accomplishment.

Another fond memory comes when Jess was fifteen, and she had her first break up. She came home from school sobbing, and when her mother got home, her mother asked her what was up. Brett her idiot ex, whom _had_ been the quarterback of the football team, dumped her in front of the entire school cafeteria because he was too cool for her and she refused to be a cheerleader. Jess' mother hugged her and comforted her all evening, telling Jess stories about her breakups, giving Jess advice, and telling her she deserved a guy who loved her for her.

And there was another time when she was twelve… Suddenly an Asian looking man in scrubs, probably the doctor, enters the room, pulling Jess, and presumably her family, from their trip down memory lane. Jess and Kyla open another tissue box, one they brought from the car, and go through it together. Their father spends a minute composing himself, before greeting the doctor in a voice still hiccupping from all of his crying.

"Robert Kardlenra, I presume," the doctor begins, continuing once the mentioned man nods, "I am Dr. Xu. Are you sure you want your daughters to hear this?"

Robert looks at his daughters, whom are both sobbing in each other's arms, "They can handle it."

The doctor nods, and begins his diagnosis, "Lucy Kardlenra was hit by another car at approximately 7:23 this morning. We don't know who crashed into her, but a driver that watched the crash occur called 911 and an ambulance came to pick her up. According to eyewitness reports the other driver flew through the red light as she was driving across the intersection and plowed right into the front of her car. The other driver and their car were miraculously unharmed and they proceeded to drive away from the scene of the crash.

"When she was uncovered from the car, emergency workers did a basic prognosis, which has now been enforced with our diagnosis here at the hospital. Cuts litter her body from when the windshield shattered. The front of her car was crumpled, shattering most of the bones in her legs and damaging her lower spine. If by some miracle she survives, it's safe to say she'll never walk again. Because of the angle the car was hit at, her head flew sideways and made hard contact with the side window, and now she has a pretty major concussion and has been sent into a coma. She also has some internal bleeding from when the dashboard went flying. We doubt she'll make it through the night, as she's in too fragile a condition to operate on and block up the bleeding. I'm sorry, Mr. Kardlenra."

Jess' father collapses back onto his chair, and begins to sob again. Jess follows suit, and the doctor looks around helplessly before Kenzie gets up and speaks to him.

"Apologies, Sir, my family and I are going through a difficult time, obviously. Is there anything else you needed?"

Dr. Xu looks taken aback, but he shakes his head, "No, I was going to tell your father to start preparing for a funeral, but I feel now isn't the time."

Kenzie nods and sits down next to Jess, holding in her tears and reminiscing about her mother. Jess is glad Kenzie's there, and even though they've never been particularly close, she feel as if Kenzie's anchoring her to the world.


	21. Chapter 21: And She's Gone

**Here is your next chapter everyone! I hope you enjoy.**

**- ROC6**

Kenzie is conflicted. She's terrified at the thought of her mother leaving her, and wants nothing more that to start bawling her eyes out. But, there's one thing that stops her. Jess. She has to be strong for her younger sister, and if there's one thing her mother has taught her it's that duty is important. So she sits next to Jess. And she hugs Jess. And she comforts her as she's crying, wanting nothing more than to do so herself. But she doesn't. She turns her head away from her mother. Her thoughts towards the stupid fashion and stuff she often occupies her time with. She's always used popularity as an excuse to ignore the coldness of the world, turning her mind towards trivial things to block the pain, and still managed to have maintained good grades.

Oh, how silly it seems now. The world is cruel, but it's warm, too. Like her mother. Blast it! She's trying not to think about it. Kenzie doesn't realize that she starts to sing to herself. A little melody her mother used to sing. Jess doesn't remember, because she was four at the time, but their mother used to be the prime example of a little girl's dream mom, until she got promoted at her law firm. Then, she had significantly more work, and as much as she tried, she didn't have time for them anymore. Kenzie understands. Her mother is very driven by commitment, but she doesn't think Jess ever understood. She fears someday her little sister will do something horrible to someone because she doesn't remember the happy part of her childhood.

Kenzie hears Jess sniffling, and pulls her closer, singing softly in her ear, "There's a land, far away, where we'll be together forever. It's warm, and it's bright, and nothing will make you shiver. What you can dream, you can do, as long as you remember, that I love you."

Jess nuzzles closer to her sister and blows her nose, and Kenzie wants nothing more than to go to that land her mother described in that nursery rhyme so long ago. Suddenly, Kenzie has the urge to reach out and touch her mother. To style her wild hair. To smooth the creases in her ever perfect work clothes. To light up her face and fill it with life again, how it used to be not too long ago.

But she can't. Her mother is almost gone, and probably never coming back. And Kenzie knows her father never wanted children. She knows he only tries to be a good father for their mother's sake. And she's afraid. Afraid of what the future will be without her mother's light. Without the restraint containing their father. She's afraid of her new duty as a maternal figure towards her little sister. Jess. Whom seems so innocent. She hasn't seen what the world does to people, or what good parents are like.

Kenzie notices her sister has fallen asleep. Honestly, it's quite obvious by the fact her tears stopped, and although her sister is moaning and twitching in her dreams, Kenzie hopes it's better than reality.

Suddenly, something in the room seems off, and it's deathly silent. Oh, god, it's silent. Kenzie's father lets out an especially loud sob before his body goes back to it's rhythmic heaving. For a second, Kenzie feels warmth on her cheek, like a warm breeze, or one last kiss goodbye. A doctor rushes into the room, and starts doing something to her mother's body, but her father stands up and pulls him away.

The doctor looks stunned, "Sir, I'm trying to bring her back."

Kenzie shifts nervously at the shade of red covering her father's face, "Don't"

"But-"

"If you were to bring her back she would only suffer in pain a couple more hours! Let her rest in peace! Don't prolong her suffering! Don't… Don't hurt her more."

The doctor leaves silently as her father resumes his sobs. He reaches silently towards his loved one's face, and whispers almost inaudibly, "Forever and always. I'll see you again someday, and I'll never leave your side."

A pause, "Forever and always, we said. Forever and always…"


	22. Chapter 22: A Clear Mind

**Hello! I hop e you like this chapter, but I'm going to warn you: I'm falling behind in my update schedule and the next chapter might go up a little late. I will try to have it ready on time, though! Thank you to all of you for being faithful, and I know there hasn't been much Percabeth recently, (or at all,) but I'm working towards the conclusion now so bear with me. Also, have a great weekend everyone!**

**- ROC6 :)**

Kyla almost couldn't believe it when she got the call. Almost. Her phone rang saying that Jess was calling, so she picked it up, figuring she would explain where she went all day. She picked up her glittery cased cell and swiped her finger across the screen to answer the call.

"Hey Jess! Where have you been?" She greeted cheerily.

Much to her surprise, it wasn't Jess that responded, but Kenzie, scratchy voiced and fragile, "Look, Kyla, Mom just passed and my dad is in mourning. He's in no condition to take care of us. Can you talk to your mom about having me and Jess stay there for a couple of days? I'll drive her right over. Dad has already brought us home."

Shocked as she was, Kyla said sure and asked her mother if it was okay. Being a kind hearted woman, her mother said yes and Kenzie said they'd be over in a few. Now, Kyla is waiting, trying to decide what to do to cheer up her grieving friend once she arrives. Danny is off in the bathroom fussing over his hair or something and her mother is off baking "cheer up" cookies when the doorbell rings.

Kyla answers the door with a "hello" and a "welcome" on the tip of her tongue, but when she sees the pair of sisters the words melt right out of her mouth. Kyla and Jess, their perfect clothes rumpled, are standing side by side in the doorway. Kenzie, toting both their bags, looks as if she's aged twenty years in the course of a few hours. She looks tired, like someone dropped the world on her shoulders no one was there to help. Jess' face is puffy and red from crying, and she's leaning heavily on her sister, as if she's afraid Kenzie will leave her, too.

Kyla nods silently at them and leads them to the guest room her mother prepared, and the trio walks in a heavy silence, none of them bringing the issue up, but all of them thinking about it. The room they enter is dusty, and the colors are faded and dull. The double bed in the middle of the room is meticulously made, it's crisply folded sheets having probably not been touched in years. Kenzie nods ever so slightly at her sister's friend before leading Jess to the bed and comforting her.

Kyla watches the scene for a moment before turning and silently closing the door behind her.

**-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-**

Jess waited until her sister fell asleep. She knew it would happen, she could see it in Kenzie's posture that she was drained, it was only a matter of time. And, even though she was mad that her sister hadn't woken her up immediately when their mother officially passed, she didn't want to brush her sister's affection off, either. So, here she is. Seven o'clock in New York City, and she's standing on the fire escape outside of the Lynsallas' apartment in a hoodie and PJ pants.

She shivers in the cool air, but it's refreshing, in a way, and every so often a chilly breeze whispers in her ear. It's a nice break from the morbid atmosphere inside of the apartment, and it helps her clear her head. She feels more awake than she has all day, and she's glad to finally be alone with her thoughts. She can barely think of the events of the last week without feeling a painful aching in her chest, as if all of the air has been sucked out of her lungs. Her heart feels empty, her body sore. It just, hurts. Everything about it. Is _this_ what it's like to lose love? Is this what she's putting the infamous Percabeth through? No. _Is it?_ It it worth doing this to them in name of her own love? Is it fair? Yes, Jess consoles herself, it'll be worth it. But still, there's that little seed of doubt nagging her in the back of her mind, _is this really the right thing?_

A pigeon flies by, and Jess watches it soar with envy. Oh, how nice it would be if she were able to fly away. To leave this life and all of the pain it's brought her behind. To be free, and not have to worry about anything in the world. She wishes she she could go back to the innocence. The obliviousness. But she can't.

Her thoughts wander back to her mother. How is her sister dealing with this? Her father? Are they feeling the same way? A cold gust blows through the night air, and the door behind her creaks open and closed again. She doesn't acknowledge the presence at first, but soon, the silence grows heavy. Oppressing.

She turns and sighs without looking at who it is, "Look, I need to be alone, so can you just go back inside?"

A lower voice than she expected responds, "It doesn't help to push everyone away."

She looks up and sees it's Danny who came out to visit her and ruin her peace. She turns away.

"I can't pretend to know what it's like, as I never knew my father, but I can tell you that isn't the way to deal with grief."

Jess turns arounds again, and Danny grabs her hand, "Tell me what it's like."

Then, almost inaudibly, he adds, "I want to be there for you."

Jess looks into his dark eyes, and instead of telling him briskly to go away, like she planned to, she finds herself spilling everything she's felt since Friday onto him. And it feels… Nice. Like a weight has been lifted off of her. She tells him about finding out her mother was dying, and everything since then. Her grief, missing school, everything. She finishes her story without breaking eye contact, and she can feel the emotion in the air. She expects Danny to hug her, or console her or _something_, but he just stands there.

After what feels like forever, he leans in and kisses her. She hesitates a moment as warmth surges through her body before responding. For a moment, everything melts away, and she's free. Then, as quickly as he did it, Danny pulls away.

He looks at her guiltily, his voice thick with unspoken emotion, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that…"

And, with that, he turns and walks briskly inside, leaving Jess cold, confused, and, for the first time in a week, just a teensy bit happy.


	23. Chapter 23: Clearing Things Up

**_Haha! Yes! I got it written in time! _ Sorry, bout that, I don't know why, but it was taking me forever to write this. Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter and feel free to review. Also, to those also reading Family, I'm working on the next one shot, but it would be awesome if you could c=send me ideas, okay? Alright. Bye!**

**-ROC6**

_Why did I do that? _He thinks angrily to himself, turning around and pacing the length of his room again. Danny is panicking. He knows it wasn't fair to Jess to take advantage of her in her weakest time like that, but she looked so beautiful and innocent with the moonlight dancing on her face, and her hair blowing oh so gently in the breeze… _Snap out of it Danny!_

Completing another panicked length, he turns again. But she looked so sad, so alone, so vulnerable… _That's exactly why you shouldn't have kissed her! _But he wanted to so badly… _But she's going to hate you! _ Letting out a yell of frustration, he sits in the chair by his desk. He needs advice. Advice from someone good with relationships, but not his mom or Jess… Kyla it is!

A few moments later Danny arrives outside his sister's room and knocks tentatively on the door. Almost as if she was expecting him, she opened up without hesitation.

"Took you long enough," she commented as he walked inside and sat on her bed, "Jess was in here nearly twenty minutes ago."

"She was? You know?" Danny asks dejectedly.

"Of course, she's my best friend! So tell me, o brother of mine, how long have you been crushin' on my bestie?"

Danny thinks for a moment, "What month is it?"

"Oh my, brother, you really are hopeless. So let's see... " Kyla pauses a moment and examines him, "You're here for advice. You don't know what to do, and you feel bad for kissing her in that state."

Kyla continues at Danny's dejected nod, "You've crushed on her for months and couldn't restrain yourself. So, you kissed her. Now you don't know where you stand or what to do. Here's my advice: Talk to her! She's literally ruining someone else's life because she feels unloved! You could've prevented all of this from happening!"

Kyla pulls on Danny's arm and he reluctantly stands up. She proceeds to push him out of the room and close her door behind him, "Toodle loo Danny! Don't forget to talk to her!"

He stands there for a moment before walking back towards the fire escape, knowing Jess is probably still there. She goes out there a lot. Even when Danny closes the door behind him and it lets out a loud squeak, Jess still doesn't acknowledge his presence.

"Hey," he calls, after a moment of her ignoring him.

Finally, she turns around, "Hey."

They stare at eachother, and Danny notice how sad and confused she looks, her eyebrows scrunched together in the cutest way, and- _Stop it! _But she looks so gorgeous and she isn't even trying… Honestly, Danny is quite content to just stare into her endless blue eyes, and the moment stretches on, until Danny finally says what he came out there to tell her.

"SorryifIoversteppedmybounds. Evenifyoudon'tlikemelikethat, Icanrestrainmyself. Canwestillbefriends?" the words tumble out of his mouth.

Jess sighs, causing his heart to flutter, "Why did you do it?"

"I've wanted to for awhile. So… Do you like me back?" he runs a hand through his hair, how did Jess never notice how cute it is when he does that, or how handsome he looks, even when he's nervous?

"I- I don't know," she answers, shrugging helplessly, "I, I mean, I think so?"

Danny moves closer, "Well, let me help you."

He leans in and kisses her, softly at first, but they both get more compassionate by the second. The balcony fades away as warmth surges through both of them. Time is no longer a constraint. Both their hearts are frenziedly beating. But, as much as Jess wants to continue, she pulls back after a moment.

Looking at her sadly, Danny says, "So, I guess you don't like me then?"

His brown eyes look so beautiful, so warm, like she could stare into them forever, but she looks away. Pointedly ignoring her longing to hug him, or touch him, or _something_. She doesn't want to ruin the moment, but something dawned on her, and she can't ignore it.

"Honestly, Danny, I like you. I really like you. I may even love you, I'm not sure yet, but I do have feelings for you." Jess explains, "But, I've done something horrible. I need to go fix it and apologize."

Realization dawns in his eyes, and Jess pulls out her phone, and calls Percy, "Hey Percy, can you meet me by the statue of Alice in the park, with Annabeth? … Okay, see you soon. Bye."


End file.
